5 Fall series to catch – Stripey’s pick

It looks like I wouldn't be reaching for that Spring/Summer stash soon given the promising Fall series I've previewed so far. Here's 5 series I'd be catching in ascending order of love.

5. Kannagi (Seen 1 ep) - Mahou ~miko~ shoujo FTW! While the premise is not all that compelling (yet), I'm intrigued mainly by the Nagi-Jin interactions and curious about the direction their relationship would take. Of course I can't wait to see the birth of Idol Nagi and will pay a kidney (Zyl's kidney - since he got me started on the series) to be at her concert (See also superbly animated OP.)

4. Toradora (Seen 2 eps) - Though initially cautious given that the premise is loaded with cliches, I dropped my guard by the end of ep 2. It would have been easy to go overboard with Taiga tsundere violence or a clumsy/shallow handling of adolescent love that plagues the harem scene. Instead, the audience is treated with well-placed character/relationship developments and a sensitive take on teenage love. The execution for the initial 2 eps has given me much hope for a sweet romance built on the solid foundation of strong characterisation and intuitive interactions. And oh, I absolutely understand why Ryuuji is in love with Kushieda. She's the kind of girl I have crushes on in high school too!

3. Clannad After Story (Seen 3 eps) - Frankly I wasn't impressed with Clannad and that's huge coming from a devoted AIR and Kanon fan. Don't get me wrong, I utterly adore the KyoAni execution. It's the KEY script, I feel, that's weighting down the show. I'm not sure how After Story would be better than its predecessor in this aspect but so far I'm loving every min of KyoAni's anointed touch. Just to add. No one, NO ONE does imouto-moe like KyoAni.

2. Ga rei ~ Zero (Seen 2 eps) - Most shocking opening ep since Soukou no Strain. My jaw had to undergo restorative surgery after it smashed onto the floor as the credits for ep 1 rolled up. To be honest, I wasn't very impressed with GR-Z initially. The conduct of 1st mobile division's assault was laughable. Given their haphazard battle formation and arcs of fire, I was surprised they weren't shooting each other in the backs or taken out in 1 explosion. The subsequent Natsuki bike-fu was nice but way over-the-top. (The tyre-track sutras were a good touch though.) However, all my criticisms on how the animators/writers have little/poor concepts on tactical ops were thrown out of the window in shocking final mins of the first ep. My reaction to ep 2 was similar given that I was groaning about how dumb and unwieldy suitcase-firearms are but those grouses were quickly forgotten with what quickly unfolded after. Gripping stuff. In mostly for the story and cliffhanger ends though.

1. To aru majutsu no Index (Seen 3 eps)

"Would you go as far to hell with me?" That was the most memorable line after 3 eps of ToAru (I'd have to admit I understood very little of ep 3 given that I've seen it raw). There are many things to love ToAru for - beautiful animation, intriguing premise, inspired direction etc but the one thing that stood out was endearing characters. I absolutely love Index and kudos to JC Staff for bringing such a beautiful soul to life. The observant would have noticed that my favourite line in the series (thusfar) was preceded by a very kind but resigned look by Index. It suddenly hit me then that this jolly, seemingly clueless girl was not at all oblivious to her circumstances. She bore a terrible destiny and wished no one to be part of it. It was a rhetorical question which she knew the answer and accepted with kindness. This was reinforced by the fact that she returned to recover her headgear so as not to further involve Touma. A Kotori-class loli!! And what great direction to grant such consistency and depth to a character within a short span of 2 eps. I have high hopes for ToAru and will be looking forward to more Index goodness weekly.